As Common Core becomes more commonplace in public schools (and in many Catholic schools), some prominent Republicans concede they’ve lost their battle. Take former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona. As governor, she signed an executive order banning the use of the words Common Core by state agencies, though the standards themselves were still firmly in place. She wrote in a recent column on the Fox News website that implementation of the standards is “succeeding.”

Outspoken Common Core critic Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute agrees that the standards are likely here to stay — though that won’t stop his ongoing assault on the Obama administration using billions in incentives to nudge states to adopt the standards. What might change, he said, is how much states are held accountable for students’ mastery of the standards, but “my sense is that most states are going to officially stay with Common Core or something like it.”

Karen Nussle, director of the Collaborative for Student Success, a group that helps lead the public relations charge in support of the standards, said the big fight over the standards is “a bit in the rearview mirror” as the conflict shifts to lesser skirmishes.

That didn’t happen, as the House and Senate fought over health care funding and education was a secondary issue.

No lawmaker has filed a bill for the 2016 session challenging the standards yet. And Senate Education chairman John Legg said he didn’t think the issue would come up as lawmakers work on the budget, redistricting and reelection.

“I think standards, I think curriculum,” Legg said, “I think those type of issues we’ve worked our way through it.

Now, standardized testing and grading public school performance are the big topics. They’re related to Common Core, but separate issues.